Pollard happily regresses from spotlight

Snowboarder Sean Pollard has no qualms with fading out of the limelight having wrapped up his impressive Winter Paralympics debut.

The Australian's story of losing both arms in a shark attack has garnered much interest in PyeongChang and at home.

But the 26-year-old is understandably reluctant to talk about the incident given its traumatic nature.

"I was surfing in 2014 and I lost both my left arm and my right hand in a shark attack in Esperance (Western Australia)," Pollard said when inevitably asked earlier this week.

"It was a pretty heavy situation and I've kind of moved past it now, trying to focus on the future."

Pollard has only been competing since November 2016 but his first Paralympics belied his inexperience.

He is considerably disadvantaged in his upper-limb disability class by being unable to push off at the start of his runs whereas others, including gold and bronze medallist teammate Simon Patmore, can.

Pollard missed out on quarter-final berth in the snowboard cross by 0.13 seconds, giving up several metres on his 1/8 final opponent early before a superb late push for the narrow loss.

He finished ninth overall in the event.

On Friday, he beat far more experienced and less disabled riders to place fourth in the banked slalom and finish pleased with his campaign.

"It's been a good experience," Pollard said.

"I was a little disappointed after the board cross on Monday but it's good to get a better result today.

"The competition is really tough. Those guys know how to throw down.

"I'm happy to be able to perform when the pressure is on, and on the biggest stage.

"I'll definitely take that away from it, that I can throw down a good time."

Pollard has taken measures to avoid being distracted by the spotlight.

"I've shut down from all social media the last two weeks," he said.

"I know it doesn't sit that well with me, having everyone watching and that.

"But that's part of the sport and I hope the sport gets bigger."

He's even considering doing it all again in four year's time in Beijing, despite some of the less desirable aspects of being a full-time athlete.

"Definitely, but four years is a long time. So I'll just throw my sails to the breeze and see where the wind blows me," he said.

"It is tough for me to be away from home. I have a beautiful girl back home in (partner) Claire. It's hard not seeing her for months at a time.

"Definitely if I can keep that balance right I'll continue. But if it's leaning one way or the other we'll see what happens."